Authors Posts by Michael Bernstein
Michael Bernstein
Michael Bernstein, MSW, is the lead Administrator at Drisha Institute for Jewish Education. He received semikha in 2025 from Yeshiva Pirchei Shoshanim. In addition to his editorial work in Jewish Studies, Michael has published his own scholarship in the area of Karaite law codes, including a critical edition of Adderet Eliyahu (c. 1500) produced for the Karaite Press online learning center. Michael lives in Riverdale, Bronx with his wife Dr. Jade Gormady and their two children.
How To Cleanse A Sanctuary
In honor of Flag Day, Michael Bernstein argues that national flags do not belong in our shul sanctuaries. Drawing on halakhic responsa, news reports, and photographic evidence, Bernstein locates the practice of displaying flags in shuls in its historical context and proposes that flags do not ever belong in prayer spaces.
How the Song of Deborah Utilizes the Blessings of Jacob: A Study in Rhetorical...
Surprisingly, Bible scholars have not addressed the remarkable intertextual conversation between Jacob's blessings in Genesis 49 and Deborah's song in Judges 5. Michael Bernstein offers his original etymological analysis of the two poetic texts.
No Assembly Required: The Individualized Aspects of the Shalosh Regalim
Michael Bernstein examines how the individual experience is ironically incorporated into holidays that are all about the community.
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